Racial unity is not a political or fringe issue. It is a gospel issue. As a predominately white church in one of the whitest states in America, we have too often believed that racial unity is irrelevant to us. “That’s someone else’s cause,” we’ve falsely thought.
We recognize our error, and we commit to doing the work of actively loving our brothers and sisters of all races, instead of naively believing racial problems are behind us.
Our first step is to listen to our brothers and sisters of color – to hear their stories without interruption. Below are resources that have helped us to hear and understand the stories of our non-white brothers and sisters. This list is not comprehensive. It is a starting point.
Articles
Dr. Robin DiAngelo, Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism (read online)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail (read online)
Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (read online)
Rich Villodas, Racial Reconciliation May Not Be What You Think It Is (read online)
Books
Austin Channing Brown, I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Amazon; ChristianBook.com
Jasmine L. Holmes, Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope
Amazon; ChristianBook.com
LaTasha Morrison, Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation
Amazon; ChristianBook.com
Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church's Complicity in Racism
Amazon; ChristianBook.com
Podcasts
Esau McCaulley, The Disrupters
Websites
For more in-depth lists of resources, see recommended resources from Be the Bridge and this article by Corinne Shutack.